Plot Synopsis

This show was first released on DVD last year and I reviewed it at the time. Now in 2010 the second season has been released on DVD and will be reviewed soon. Both seasons are also being released on Blu-ray by Beyond Home Entertainment. Additionally, the first Season has been re-released as a special edition which is the subject of this review. The only difference between this and the original is that an extra disc of special features has been added. The text of my original review follows :

Although I greatly enjoy Science Fiction (both Movies and TV shows) I was completely unaware of this show which first kicked off as 8 webisodes in 2007. Those 8 webisodes were then reshot and recut to form the first three episodes of this television series which showed on the Scifi channel in the US in late 2008. A second series is in the works and will probably be shown later this year in the US. To my knowledge this show has not been seen on local television of either persuasion. The show came to my attention because of one episode being included on the local distributor's promotional disc a couple of months ago. Intrigued by the show's premise and its links to the Stargate shows, I was keen to review the whole series.

The basic premise of the show is that the world is full of 'abnormals' who need to be protected from humanity and so a place has been set up to house and protect them called The Sanctuary, hence the name of the show, Sanctuary. The owner and leader of this 'private research facility' (as they describe themselves to anyone nosy) is Dr Helen Magnus (Amanda Tapping who was Sam Carter from the Stargate universe). She is 157 years old but looks as young as Amanda Tapping (40ish) and is dedicated to her work of protecting and studying these abnormals. The abnormals are not aliens but rather are humans with special powers (sort of like X-Men without the flashy costumes) or bigger, uglier animals or insects (more like the stuff coming through the anomalies in Primeval.). They tend quite often to be things from mythology. Magnus is very enigmatic and not necessarily completely moral. This makes her an interesting and hard to read character rather than the usual obvious goodie. Explaining how Magnus comes to be 157 years old and in this line of work would give away too much of what happens over the course of these episodes. It is great to see Amanda Tapping playing a quite different character to Sam Carter. There is no particular place the show is set in although it is obviously the US. Some episodes occur in other parts of the world such as the Himalayas and the bottom of the ocean. The Sanctuary also has braches all over the world, for example in London & New Delhi. They have an ongoing enemy in a group known as 'The Cabal' who want to exploit abnormals for their own benefit.

The show has been likened strongly to Torchwood. It certainly shares some traits with Torchwood, however there is enough difference to allow it to stand on its own. Torchwood is definitely the better show, however this one is worth watching. I would actually describe it as a mixture of Torchwood, X-Men, Primeval and CSI.

Details of the character's pasts are revealed slowly during the season. The other recurring characters are:

Dr Will Zimmerman (Robin Dunne) - Zimmerman is a forensic psychologist and profiler who works for the police at the start of episode 1, however is soon recruited to join Magnus' team. He has an obsession with detail and the show uses an interesting effect to point this out. It is slightly off-putting at first, however does act as a way to help you understand the character better.

Ashley Magnus (Emilie Ullerup) - Helen's feisty and violent daughter who is the team's main enforcer and fighter. This character is somewhat annoying, not assisted by the acting of Ms Ullerup. She is a Danish actress who is very attractive but sports one of the worst haircuts in recent memory for most scenes in this show.

Henry Foss (Ryan Robbins) - The obligatory techo in the team. Henry builds the various computers, defence shields, weapons and other pieces of technology required by The Sanctuary. As the series progresses he becomes more involved in the field work.

Big Foot (Christopher Heyerdahl who people may recognise as Todd the Wraith from Stargate: Atlantis). He is a hairy human-like abnormal who has great strength but is very gentle. He lives at the Sanctuary after being rescued by Magnus and then refused to leave. He helps the team out in a variety of ways including making food and fighting rogue abnormals.

John Druitt (also Christopher Heyerdahl) - A mysterious and dangerous man from Magnus' past who is also very enigmatic. I can't reveal anything else about him without spoiling the plot.

From a production quality perspective, this show relies a lot on CGI with most of the scenes being acted before a green screen with the background filled in later by computer. Unfortunately, some of these look very unrealistic, while some are of better quality. This is especially true in the first few episodes whereas later in the season CGI is used more judiciously. The overall feel of the production design is very gothic suiting the newly dark haired Amanda Tapping and her tougher, darker character (compared to Sam Carter). The earlier episodes also contain some bizarre procedural anomalies and some dodgy dialogue. The series finds its feet more in the second half which hopefully will continue into season 2. The show is shot using the new RED ultra HD cameras, which unfortunately has not translated to a great video transfer on this set (more on this below).

This four disc set contains 13 episodes, if you count the first double episode as 2. The first two episodes have been cut together here but you can see a very brief glimpse of the opening frame of the credits where it should have been 2. The episodes are all quite different which is certainly a positive in this sort of series, offering a wide variety of situations for the team to address. The show was created by Damian Kindler, who was a writer/producer on the Stargate shows. Martin Wood, another Stargate alumni, directs most of the episodes.

In summary, this is a good, without being a great, entry into what is becoming a long line of science fiction shows being made in Vancouver.

Transfer Quality

Video

The video quality is somewhat disappointing. The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio which I would guess is the original aspect ratio or close to it. It is 16x9 enhanced widescreen. This is an NTSC to PAL conversion rather than a PAL transfer from the source. This is a shame and is probably responsible for a number of the issues with this transfer.

The picture was quite clear and sharp in the foreground but quite undefined in the backgrounds. The sharpness was also affected by motion blur. Shadow detail was decent but never great, not assisted by the dark, gothic colour scheme. There was also some occasional light grain and macro-blocking especially in backgrounds.

The colour was well rendered but not vibrant which is a reflection of the dark colour scheme.

Other artefacts include significant amounts of edge enhancement and some noticeable aliasing even when upscaled to 1080p.

There are no subtitles.

The layer changes are very noticeable, causing bad pauses.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness

Shadow Detail

Colour

Grain/Pixelization

Film-To-Video Artefacts

Film Artefacts

Overall

Audio

The audio quality is also somewhat disappointing. This DVDs contains an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack encoded at 192 Kb/s plus commentaries with the same technical specification.

Dialogue was reasonably clear and easy to understand throughout, although some lines of dialogue were hard to understand. Subtitles would have been very useful.

The music consists of a theme by Joel Goldsmith plus incidental score by Ian Browne. The theme is quite good and memorable and the incidental music adds excitement.

The surround speakers added some atmosphere when payed using Dolby ProLogic II. The subwoofer was used for music.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue

Audio Sync

Clicks/Pops/Dropouts

Surround Channel Use

Subwoofer

Overall

Extras

The original extras remain but an extra disc has been added in this Special Edition.

Menu

The menu features an introduction, motion and music. Scene selection is available.

Slipcover

The discs are packaged in a five disc plastic box (the size of a normal amaray) which is housed in a cardboard slipcover featuring raised pictures. This special edition includes a new and different slipcover.

Commentaries

Commentaries are available for all episodes featuring a number of different people involved in the production (see details below). They tend to be jokey and somewhat self-congratulatory but also contain worthwhile information about the show, locations, green screen work and much more. The details of who is on each track is as follows

Making of (16:53)

Decent quality featurette which covers the series development, webisodes, CGI, creatures, characters, green screen acting and the use of the RED cameras. A bit self-congratulatory but interesting.

Disc 5 **NEW**

Webisodes (130:04)

The eight original webisodes of 15 minutes each are included here which is an excellent addition for fans. They are cut somewhat differently from the three episodes in the series which tell the same stories and so are certainly of interest. They are introduced by Amanda Tapping.

Welcome to Sanctuary (5:10)

A featurette about the development of the series and how it went from idea to webisodes to TV series. Includes interview snippets with writers, directors and Amanda Tapping.

The Residents of Sanctuary (5:37)

Featurette about the various characters and creatures in the series. Includes some footage of make up in progress.

The VFX of Sanctuary (5:20)

Featurette focusing on the various special effects used in the series and the overall approach of making what is a virtual world and the extensive use of green screen.

Bloopers (3:30)

Mildly amusing collection of stuff-ups and on-set silliness.

Photo Gallery (2:06)

Stills from the show and behind the scenes with music in a small window.

Season Two Sneak Peak (0:52)

Trailer for Season 2.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view
non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually
also NTSC compatible.

The Region 1 release of this show is significantly superior to the local release even in this new Special Edition format. The Region 1 includes the following in addition to the features of our local release.

Dolby Digital 5.1 sound

English for the hearing impaired subtitles

NTSC video rather than the NTSC to PAL conversion.

Summary

An interesting and good quality entrant to the Science Fiction television genre re-released in a special edition. The video quality is disappointing. The audio quality is also disappointing.